Being a mom is hard

Being a mom is hard. How can you give yourself grace when you’re tired, overwhelmed, and frazzled? This is everything you need to know about grace for moms.

Whether you’re parenting littles, bigs, tweens, or teens, you probably struggle with mom anger and mom guilt while trying to be a good mom like you read about in mommy blogs and parenting magazines. How can you give yourself grace when you are tired, overwhelmed, and frazzled?

Motherhood is hard because it seems to require all the skills we lack. Motherhood is hard because it’s the ultimate act of service. It’s not easy when things aren’t black and white, and experts seem to contradict themselves. Perhaps you didn’t have a godly, kind, nurturing mother growing up so it’s hard to pass on what you never experienced.

Yes, being a mom is hard. And no, you don’t have to stay stuck in the overwhelm. God offers grace to mothers, and His mercies are new each day. If you’re a mom who wants to give herself grace, you are in the right place. Here are ways you can move away from being a frazzled mom and toward a grace-giving mom.

Being a mom is hard
When you suffer from mom anger
When you struggle to be a good mom
When you struggle with mom guilt
Grace for moms
Recommended reading

Motherhood is hard because it seems to require all the skills we lack. You know, like patience, kindness, gentleness, and wisdom. It’s hard because it’s the ultimate act of service. Mothers continually put others ahead of themselves. It’s not easy to put others first.

Being a mom is hard because it all seems so gray. Different stages and personalities require different tactics, timing, discipline, and boundaries. As soon as we figure it out, ages and stages change. All we want is a good “if this, then that” statement that works in every situation.

Why is it so hard being a mother? Because God partners with motherhood to sanctify us. Parenting is designed to be difficult to remind us to go to Jesus. While motherhood may feel above our paygrade, it isn’t too hard for God.

Go Deeper

When you suffer from mom anger

You’ve done it. Lord knows I’ve done it. We have a quiet time filled with thoughtful reflection, insight, and hymns that cause our hands to reach heavenward, and then we walk back into our regularly-scheduled life, and the wheels fall off the bus.

The kids make us mad. We can’t believe coffee takes so long to brew. And why can’t anyone else put the dishes away?

We suffer from mom anger. We grow angry because:

We feel overwhelmed.
We feel out-of-control.
We’re overworked.

Angry Mom isn’t who we want to be. However, there isn’t a guaranteed way to solve our anger issues, but I do have hope to offer.

Let’s never forget that God is all about our relationship with Him and our kids over rightness. He’ll create situations we cannot handle to bring us back to Him. He equips us to parent. He never forsakes us.

For free strategies to help you move away from being angry mom, go here.

Go Deeper

When you struggle to be a good mom

What is a “good mom”? Good Mom seems to be a narrowly-defined enigma that has all the talents and skills you lack.

Good Mom is a crafty creative when you don’t know how to thread a needle.
Good Mom serves organic vegetables that bring her praise from her children when you go through the drive-through…again.
Good Mom plays Barbie and Legos for countless hours when you’d rather work on a spreadsheet.
Good Mom is always upbeat, patient, available to meet needs, and she’s never tired when you feel crabby and frustrated.
Good Mom has children who always obey, make good grades, and exhibit perfect table manners in public when your kids, well, don’t.

If you’re struggling to be the kind of mom you want to be, there is hope. We can start by remembering and believing who we are in Christ: loved, cherished, and seen. We can also remember that God will equip us to parent in our brokenness.

Go Deeper

When you struggle with mom guilt

Maybe you don’t struggle with the desire to be a perfect mom, but you want to be a good mom, and you’re beating yourself up with negative thoughts every time you “fail.”

Perhaps you feel like you could do better, that you’re not doing enough, that you’re failing in all the ways, or your previous mistakes are irredeemable.

It is possible to get unstuck from thinking you’re a bad mom and must be the best, most awesome, most perfect mom for your kids, so instead, you can be the Jesus-expression of you in the world.

There are reasons you feel mom guilt: spiritual opposition, cultural messaging, and even passive-aggressive comments from family members. So what is true? Go to the Go Deeper section for more.

Go Deeper

Grace for moms

Ever feel like you’re not a good mom? That somebody — anybody — could raise your kids better than you are doing right now? Do you sometimes feel like you’re The Worst because you angry, frustrated, and easily annoyed?

Those feelings are so familiar to every mom who has ever lived.

Let’s remind ourselves of these facts:

God delights in the fact that He made you a mother.
God didn’t create the law of Good Mom.
God knows your desire + your fears.

Remember, being a mother isn’t about what you do. It isn’t about being a success or failure. Being a mom is a role God treats with kindness.

jillemccormick.com

Being a mom is hard | Here’s how to give yourself grace

TABLE OF CONTENTS